I just wanted to thank all group for working together and I think we had a good time :)
Have nice Easter holidays, all of you! :)

Virtual green event

Register for this guys! It's free and it sounds like it's going to be interesting. There are a few more - Education now and Housing now, take a look!


http://www.ukvirtualevents.com/virtual-events/sustainability-now/

It has been suggested in science fiction literature that in-habitation of Europa, one of Jupiter moons is possible. The planet is covered with ice, which provides the possibility, if the energy provided, for water to be available there. My suggestion is, because there are a lot of strong winds there, wind farms could be built to create the energy to melt the ice, that way we could have hydro atmosphere there, which provides constant temperature on certain levels and predictable surroundings. With the energy source already dealt with we can make green houses with artificial light and start producing oxygen. which can also be provided by the water. My theory goes further, by suggesting that may be after melting the ice, vegetation can develop, may be not like the one we know, may be instead of photosynthesizing, a nitrosynthesizing systems could be developed; however if any life form is developed more energy is produced and with energy available, human life is possible.
I'm attaching my conceptual drawing.

That's what i have discovered with a help of our one friend :) i think it is quite good :)
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3159199&origin=BDweeklydigest

Link

Interesting designs:

http://www.cca.qc.ca/en

General Ramblings

Here is a page I mocked-up in response to a cedric price quote - maybe I've missed the point? Its involvement as a soapbox or starting point is sufficient...

Floating House Boats!

Problem Solved.

Effect before cause?!

really cool site !

It's a site full of old articles, really interesting to see how things started... :)

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/qf/c/ModernMechanix/7-1934/underground_cities/med_underground_cities_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.modernmechanix.com/category/house-and-home/page/5/&usg=__iZ-ASzFdGd07jhTs2E0HWqW2wlw=&h=480&w=316&sz=43&hl=en&start=18&itbs=1&tbnid=ctG15MQ0m9yZ3M:&tbnh=129&tbnw=85&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfuture%2Bunderground%2Bdwelling%26hl%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1

Jelly-fish 45 Habitat

Jelly-fish 45, designed by Giancarlo Zema is a floating dwelling unit for up to six persons. It's spacious dimensions are 10 metres high with a diameter of over 15 metres. The Jelly-fish 45 would be ideally situated in sea parks, atolls, bays and seas rich in flora and fauna. The Jelly-fish 45 allows the sea dwelling owners to live either above or below sea level in perfect harmony with the ocean environment.





For more info:
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sub-find.com/images/jellyfish3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sub-find.com/jellyfish.htm&usg=__iKYaVdE4PgeEOFpalW0MohGv284=&h=431&w=446&sz=20&hl=en&start=11&itbs=1&tbnid=fia8MNz2ZZJ6cM:&tbnh=123&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dunderwater%2Bdwelling%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26tbs%3Disch:1

LILYPAD: Floating City for Climate Change Refugees

There are very few urban design solutions that address housing the inevitable tide of displaced people that could arise as oceans swell under global warming. Certainly none are as spectacular as this one. The Lilypad, by Vincent Callebaut, is a concept for a completely self-sufficient floating city intended to provide shelter for future climate change refugees. The intent of the concept itself is laudable, but it is Callebaut’s phenomenal design that has captured our imagination.



For more info:
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/06/16/lilypad-floating-cities-in-the-age-of-global-warming/

Underwater Dwelling: H2Ome

U.S. Submarine Structures LLC is the company that is responsible for the design and construction of both the Poseidon Undersea Resort and now, the world’s first one-atmosphere sea-floor residence, the H2OME.

The world’s first undersea residence has 3600 square feet of uncompromising elegance situated in 40 feet of crystal clear water surrounded by a magnificent coral reef, where the ever changing view is fascinating and absolutely unique.

The Barratt Green House

A lovely video presentation on the Barrat Green House Design and functioning

Code for sustainable homes

This is the main site, and this is a link to one of the publications of the series Code for sustainable homes, I liked

Some other predictions...

I've picked this data from a PDF and I've highlighted 8 different topics affected by climate change.I've also highlighted some facts and predictions.

EEA Report: No 2/2004

IMPACTS OF EUROPE'S CHANGING CLIMATE
An indicator-based assessment





" Table S.1 Summary of trends and projections of indicators included in this report

1.Atmosphere and climate

Greenhouse gas concentrations

• Due to human activities, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, has increased by 34 % compared with pre-industrial levels, with an accelerated rise since 1950. Other greenhouse gas concentrations have also risen as a result of human activities.
• The total rise in all greenhouse gases since the pre-industrial era amounts to 170 ppm CO2-equivalent, with contributions of 61 % from CO2, 19 % from methane, 13 % from CFCs and HCFCs, and 6 % from nitrous oxide.
• If no climate-driven policy measures are implemented, a further increase to 650–1 215 ppm CO2-equivalent is projected to occur by 2100.
• To achieve the EU long-term objective of limiting global temperature rise to 2 °C, global emissions of greenhouse gases need to be reduced substantially from 1990 levels.

Global and European air temperature

• The global average temperature has increased by 0.7 ± 0.2 °C over the past 100 years. The 1990s were the warmest decade in the observational record; 1998 was the warmest year, followed by 2002 and 2003.
• Europe has warmed more than the global average, with a 0.95 °C increase since 1900. Temperatures in winter have increased more than in summer. The warming has been greatest in northwest Russia and the Iberian Peninsula.
• The rate of global warming has increased to 0.17 ± 0.05 °C per decade, a value probably exceeding any 100-year rate of warming during the past
1 000 years. The indicative target of no more than 0.1–0.2 °C per decade has already been exceeded or will be exceeded within the next few decades.
• From 1990 to 2100, the global average temperature is projected to increase by 1.4–5.8 °C and 2.0–6.3 °C for Europe (without policy measures). The 'sustainable' EU target of limiting global temperature increase to no more than 2.0 °C above pre-industrial levels is likely to be exceeded around 2050.

European precipitation

• Annual precipitation trends in Europe for the period 1900–2000 show a contrasting picture between northern Europe (10–40 % wetter) and southern Europe (up to 20 % drier). Changes have been greatest in winter in most parts of Europe.
• Projections for Europe show a 1–2 % increase per decade in annual precipitation in northern Europe and an up to 1 % per decade decrease in southern Europe (in summer, decreases of 5 % per decade may occur). The reduction in southern Europe is expected to have severe effects, e.g. more frequent droughts, with considerable impacts on agriculture and water resources.

Temperature and precipitation extremes

• In the past 100 years the number of cold and frost days has decreased in most parts of Europe, whereas the number of days with temperatures above 25 °C (summer days) and of heatwaves has increased.
• The frequency of very wet days significantly decreased in recent decades in many places in southern Europe, but increased in mid and northern Europe.
• Cold winters are projected to disappear almost entirely by 2080 and hot summers are projected to become much more frequent.
• It is likely that, by 2080, droughts as well as intense precipitation events will become more frequent.

2.Glaciers, snow and ice

Glaciers



• Glaciers in eight out of the nine glacier European regions are in retreat, which is consistent with the global trend.
• From 1850 to 1980, glaciers in the European Alps lost approximately one third of their area and one half of their mass. Since 1980, another 20–30 %
of the remaining ice has been lost. The hot dry summer of 2003 led to a loss of 10 % of the remaining glacier mass in the Alps.
• Current glacier retreat in the Alps is reaching levels exceeding those of the past 5 000 years.
• It is very likely that the glacier retreat will continue. By 2050, about 75 % of the glaciers in the Swiss Alps are likely to have disappeared.





Snow cover

• The northern hemisphere's annual snow cover extent has decreased by about 10 % since 1966.
• The snow cover period in the northern hemisphere land areas between
45 °N and 75 °N shortened by an average rate of 8.8 days per decade between 1971 and 1994.
• Northern hemisphere snow cover extent is projected to decrease further during the twenty-first century.

Arctic sea ice

• The total area of Arctic sea ice has shrunk by more than 7 % from 1978 to 2003.
• Ice thickness decreased by about 40 % on average from the period
1958–1976 to the period 1993–1997, with large regional variability.
• The duration of the summer melt season over a large proportion of the perennial Arctic sea ice increased by 5.3 days (8 %) per decade from 1979 to 1996.
• Projections show a predominantly ice free Arctic Ocean in summer by 2100.

3.Marine systems

Rise in sea level

• Sea levels around Europe increased by between 0.8 mm/year (Brest and Newlyn) and 3.0 mm/year (Narvik) in the past century.
• The projected rate of sea level rise between 1990 and 2100 is 2.2 to 4.4 times higher than the rate in the twentieth century, and sea level is projected to continue to rise for centuries.

Sea surface temperature

• Since the late nineteenth century, the global average sea surface temperature has increased by 0.6 ± 0.1 °C, consistent with the increase in global air temperature.
• Global ocean heat content has increased significantly since the late 1950s. More than half of the increase in heat content has occurred in the upper 300 metres of the ocean.
• No European sea shows a significant cooling; the Baltic and North Seas and the western Mediterranean show a slight warming of about 0.5 °C over the past 15 years.
• It is very likely that the oceans will warm less than the land; by 2100, global sea surface temperature is projected to increase by 1.1–4.6 °C from 1990 levels.

Marine growing season

• Increasing phytoplankton biomass and an extension of the seasonal growth period have been observed in the North Sea and the North Atlantic over the past decades.
• In the 1990s, the seasonal development of decapods larvae (zooplankton) occurred much earlier (by 4–5 weeks), compared with the long-term mean.

Marine species composition

• Over the past 30 years there has been a northward shift of zooplankton species by up to 1 000 km and a major reorganisation of plankton ecosystems.
• The presence and number of warm-temperate species have been increasing in the North Sea over the past decades.

4.Terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity

Plant species composition

• Climate change over the past three decades has resulted in decreases in populations of plant species in southern and northern Europe.
• Plant species diversity has increased in northwestern Europe due to a northward movement of southern thermophilic species, whereas the effect on cold tolerant species is still limited.
• Projections predict a further northward movement of many plant species. By 2050 species distribution is projected to become substantially affected in many parts of Europe.
• Globally a large number of species might become extinct under future climate change. Due to non-climate related factors, such as the fragmentation of habitats, extinction rates are likely to increase. These factors will limit the migration and adaptation capabilities needed by species to respond to climate change.

Plant species distribution in mountain regions

• Endemic mountain plant species are threatened by the upward migration of more competitive sub-alpine shrubs and tree species, to some extent because of climate change.
• In the Alps, upward migration has led to an increase in plant species richness in 21 out of 30 summits, whereas it has decreased or remained stable in the other summits.
• Projected changes in European annual average temperature are outside the tolerance range of many mountain species. These species are projected to be replaced by more competitive shrub and tree species, leading to considerable loss of endemic species in mountain regions.
Terrestrial carbon uptake
• In the period 1990–1998 the European terrestrial biosphere was a net sink for carbon and therefore partly offset increasing anthropogenic CO2 emissions.
• Carbon uptake in Europe can be increased by (re-)planting forests and other land management measures. The additional potential storage capacity for the EU in forestry and agriculture is estimated to be relatively small, compared with the agreed targets in the Kyoto Protocol.
• The projected increase in average temperature is likely to reduce the potential amount of carbon that can be sequestrated in the European terrestrial biosphere in the future.
Plant phenology and growing season
• The average annual growing season in Europe lengthened by about 10 days between 1962 and 1995, and is projected to increse further in the future.
• Greenness (a measure of plant productivity) of vegetation increased by
12 %, an indicator of enhanced plant growth.
• The positive effects of temperature increase on vegetation growth (i.e. a longer growing season) are projected to be counteracted by an increased risk of water shortage in mid and especially southern Europe which would adversely affect vegetation.

Bird survival

• The survival rate of different bird species wintering in Europe has increased over the past few decades.
• The survival rate of most bird species is likely to improve further because of the projected rise in winter temperature.
• Nevertheless, it is not yet possible to determine what impact this increasing survival will have on bird populations.

5.Water

Annual river discharge

• Annual river discharge has changed over the past few decades across Europe. In some regions, including eastern Europe, it has increased, while it has decreased in others, including southern Europe. Some of these changes can be attributed to observed changes in precipitation.
• The combined effect of projected changes in precipitation and temperature will in most cases amplify the changes in annual river discharge.
• Annual discharge is projected to decline strongly in southern and southeastern Europe, but to increase in almost all parts of northern and northeastern Europe, with consequences for water availability.

6.Agriculture

Crop yield

• The yields per hectare of all cash crops have continuously increased in Europe in the past 40 years due to technological progress, while climate change has had a minor influence.
• Agriculture in most parts of Europe, particularly in mid and northern Europe, is expected to potentially benefit from increasing CO2 concentrations and rising temperatures.
• The cultivated area could be expanded northwards.
• In some parts of southern Europe, agriculture will be threatened by climate change due to increased water stress.
• During the heatwave in 2003, many southern European countries suffered drops in yield of up to 30 %, while some northern European countries profited from higher temperatures and lower rainfall.
• Bad harvests could become more common due to an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events (droughts, floods, storms, hail) and pests and diseases.

7.Economy

Economic losses

• In Europe, 64 % of all catastrophic events since 1980 are directly attributable to weather and climate extremes: floods, storms and droughts/heatwaves. 79 % of economic losses caused by catastrophic events result from these weather and climate related events.
• Economic losses resulting from weather and climate related events have increased significantly during the past 20 years, from an annual average of less than USD 5 billion to about USD 11 billion. This is due to wealth increase and more frequent events. Four out of the five years with the largest economic losses in this period have occurred since 1997.
• The average number of annual disastrous weather and climate related events in Europe doubled over the 1990s compared with the previous decade, while non-climatic events such as earthquakes remained stable.
• Climate change projections show an increasing likelihood of extreme weather events. Thus, an escalation in damage caused is likely.

8.Human health

Heatwaves

• More than 20 000 excess deaths attributable to heat, particularly among the aged population, occurred in western and southern Europe during the summer of 2003.
• Heatwaves are projected to become more frequent and more intense during the twenty-first century and hence the number of excess deaths due to heat is projected to increase in the future. On the other hand, fewer cold spells will likely reduce the number of excess deaths in winter.
Flooding

• Between 1975 and 2001, 238 flood events were recorded in Europe. Over this period the annual number of flood events clearly increased.
• The number of people affected by floods rose significantly, with adverse physical and psychological human health consequences.
• Fatal casualties caused per flood event decreased significantly, likely due to improved warning and rescue measures.
• Climate change is likely to increase the frequency of extreme flood events in Europe, in particular the frequency of flash floods, which have the highest risk of fatality.

Tick-borne diseases

• Tick-borne encephalitis cases increased in the Baltic region and central Europe between 1980 and 1995, and have remained high. Ticks can transmit a variety of diseases, such as tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and Lyme disease (in Europe called Lyme borreliosis).
• It is not clear how many of the 85 000 cases of Lyme borreliosis reported annually in Europe are due to the temperature increase over the past decades. "

An extract from 'Extreme weather and
climate events and public health responses Report on a WHO meeting Bratislava, Slovakia 09–10 February 2004:

• 'Are the frequency and intensity of flooding changing in Europe?' by Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz :

"Menzel et al. (2003)9 examined flood frequency for the river Mosel at Cochem, comparing two
thirty-year periods: 1961-1990 and 2061-2090. For a specific discharge, the return interval was
considerably lower under future climate scenarios; this means that floods are projected to
become more frequent. Model-based analyses for the Severn and Thames rivers for 2050s show
an increase in both the frequency and magnitude of flooding. Reynard et al. also showed less
flooding in some rivers in the U.K due to less summer rainfall."

IPCC report

I've found a very interesting thing.IPCC is a society formed of scientists who make predictions in reports like this one.
(just copy and paste the link into your browser because it seems it doesn't work directly from the blog's page.I don't know why)

http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg3/en/contents.html


In the contents page you can find the topics we were talking about:energy supplies and residential and commercial buildings all related to future climate change.

And yes,global warming is happening whatever we do because we are between 2 ice ages right now and it's supposed to get warmer,but nowadays,people's actions are so intense that we influence in a bad way...with all the emissions,we're encouraging green house effect,therefore...anomalies are happening like extreme weather forecasts...snowing in England (for example) and other things like this.What to do?Is there something to do when most of the people are indifferent?The question is should we try to change or just adapt?

Mindmap

Here is a mindmap of our meeting

Notes

Societal values on the architecture of the future

Summary:

My Opinion:

A FUTURE RELIANCE ON SOFTWARE TO MODEL REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS, ESPECIALLY THOSE PERTAINING TO SUSTAINABILITY.

A GREATER USE OF PARAMETRIC MODELLING AND ITERATIVE FORMULAE TO PRODUCE THESE EFFICIENT FORMS.

– ALTHOUGH THIS COULD LEAD TO FURTHER BUILDING THAT DOES NOT ENHANCE THE ENVIORNMENT BUT MAKES BUILDINGS LESS EFFICIENT AND LESS CONTEXT-DEPENDENT.

Timesonline:

“it’s construction must incorporate local materials from sustainable sources and low-energy building methods; it must consume little or no energy, so conserve or generate it on site; and the flexible design must have non load-bearing internal walls, so that it can be adapted to the changing needs of the occupants.

the most important aspect with these technologies is educating the user, lest the system be misused or, worse, not used at all.”

From Nagashima’s Text:

GLOBAL: SOCIAL IMPERATIVE

LOCAL: CONSIDERING CONTEXT + USER’S NEEDS

THERE IS A POTENTIAL SCHISM BETWEEN:

THE USER’S NEEDS (COULD CHANGE IN THE FUTURE – SOCIETY AND CULTURE)

THE GREATER SOCIAL IMPERATIVE (E.G. SUSTAINABILITY)

THAT WHICH FULFILLS A COMMUNITY’S ASPIRATIONS (E.G. DUBAI)

PREDICTION: “ECO TAX” – A TAX ON ITEMS THAT ARE NOT ECOLOGICALLY SOUND

CHANCES ARE THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY WILL INCREASE, NOT DECREASE.

SOCIETY’S ISSUES:

PARADOX: “ALTHOUGH WE HAVE BECOME MORE CONNECTED VIRTUALLY WE DO NOT REALISE OR CARE ABOUT THOSE WITH WHOM WE ARE CONNECTED (E.G. MAY NOT KNOW OUR IMMEDIATE NEIGHBOURS!)

THE ATTITUDE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES THAT INDIGENOUS METHODS ARE RETARDED AND THAT A MOVE TO LESS CONTEXT DEPENDENT ARCHITECTURE (E.G. MODERNISM) IS BETTER BOTH ASPIRATIONALLY AND COMMUNALLY (QUALITY OF LIVING).

IN HISTORY: “THE QUALITIES OF COMMUNITY WERE FOUNDED BY THOSE WHO SETTLED (THE FARMERS) NOT THE TRAVELLERS (THE NOMADIC). – NOW WE ARE MOVING TOWARDS A MORE “TRAVELLING SOCIETY” (E.G. AIR TRAVEL, WORKING MILES FROM HOME, BEING WORLD TOURISTS).

A GREATER SENSE OF COMMUNITY MUST BE FORMED TO DETRACT FROM THESE DESIRES TO TRAVEL, WHICH IS, IN ITSELF, DUE TO THE DISTRUST AND LOATHING OF THOSE WHOM WE ARE AROUND AND OUR ENVIRONMENT (E.G. SUBURBAN SPRAWL, LARGE INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS, A LACK OF PUBLIC OPEN SPACES, THE LOCAL CLIMATE, SOCIETAL VALUES).

AN INATE DESIRE TO TRAVEL?!

HISTORY: BEGINNINGS OF SUBURBAN SPRAWL: LEAVITOWN IN THE USA IN THE 1950’S

THE LATIN: ‘GENIUS LOCI’ SPIRIT AND INDIVIDUALITY MUST BE FOUND AND ESTABLISHED.

SUSTAIN IMPRESS

NEEDS DESIRES

COP 15

Here you can watch videos from ALL the events from the Copenhagen summit. (If you have problems with viewing, check, you might have forbid the plug-ins for that page, you need to allow them, and you might need to install a particular player if you don't have it already)

http://www.williamkatavolos.org/

There's something I found interesting :)

http://www.futurearchitecture.eu/

Architectural Association

Dezeen

Very Cool STUFF

Enjoy!

The movie about the future

The movie about future building 'Future of design' :

Future by Design shares the life and far-reaching vision of Jacque Fresco, considered by many to be a modern day Da Vinci. Peer to Einstein and Buckminster Fuller, Jacque is a self-taught futurist who describes himself most often as a "generalist" or multi-disciplinarian -- a student of many inter-related fields. He is a prolific inventor, having spent his entire life (he is now 90 years old) conceiving of and devising inventions on various scales which entail the use of innovative technology. As a futurist, Jacque is not only a conceptualist and a theoretician, but he is also an engineer and a designer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc7x79kJ1S0

we could watch it on Friday :)

Land problem

I have looked through some sites and videos this evening and remembered students today talking about how buildings might be built floating on water or in the air in the future. And it reminded me of the other problem we have today- lack of land for the buildings. The population is becoming bigger every day and the number will keep increasing, but the land won't. Although, humans started expanding the land- building artificial islands.






That's some examples i have discovered about all of this thing:







I wonder how sustainable it is?


Btw, i would like to suggest you all to browse one interesting site called Architizer:
http://www.architizer.com/en_us/?country=en_us
Hope you will enjoy it :)

Fullerene

I think our blog deserves an explanation- how we got such a strange name for it??

Katya:

The Fullarene is one of the carbon forms, there is graphite and diamond, which have structures that allow them to combine infinete number of atoms, but in a spesific spatial structure, and there is the fullarene which is a mollecule of 60 carbon atoms, shaped like a football sphere with the pentagons and the hexagons on it. It was named after Buckminster Fuller because of his domes, and it is and revolutionary substance. It is still being researched but there are suggestions that it could be extremely important for the production of superconductors, if theoriticly, say we pierce that sphere with metal molecules it is said that it would be possibible not to loose the heat energy while conducting eleetrisity. A resolution like that could mean up to 60% more energy from the same sorces.

We have a BLOG!!!

Post everything! :)